Communication devices, such as mobile devices, are usable for telecommunications, and proliferate all aspects of daily life. Users with mobile devices frequently travel to a variety of places for a variety of purposes. It is conceivable that regardless of what or where a place might be, if there is a human user in that place, it is very likely that the user has a mobile device on the user's person or otherwise available to the user with which to establish a telecommunications call (hereinafter, “call”).
A call is any suitable method of telecommunication, including but not limited to audio telephonic communications, video telecommunications, textual messaging, taptically or haptically telecommunicating information, and generally telecommunication of data in these and other forms. Any type of communication device, including but not limited to landline telephone equipment and mobile devices, can be used for a call. A mobile device is capable of relocating from one location to another as a user associated with the mobile device moves from one location to another. As some non-limiting examples, the mobile device can take the form of a cellular phone, a smartphone device, a tablet computer, a portable computing platform, a wearable device, and the like.
A typical call begins with a calling user (hereinafter, “caller”) dialing the number associated with a mobile device associated with a called user (hereinafter, “callee”). A communication device associated with a caller is also referred to herein as a caller communication device. A communication device associated with a callee is also referred to herein as a destination communication device. The service provider connects the call between the caller's telecommunication device and the callee's mobile device. In some cases, the caller selects a callee's name, such as from a phonebook or a similar contacts management application, and the caller's device calls the number stored relative to the callee's name in the phonebook.
In some cases, a caller may not know the callee or a callee's number. A caller can use a directory service, whereby the caller identifies the intended callee by name, address, or both, and the directory service provides the callee's number to the caller, connects the call between the caller and the callee, or both.
The illustrative embodiments recognize that for the directory service to work using only the address, the callee's number has to be permanently associated with that address, even if the number is assigned to a mobile device. In other words, if a callee has to be reached only by knowing the callee's address, the callee's number must be unchangeably associated with the address, even if the device associated with the number is mobile.
The illustrative embodiments recognize that presently, there is no available method by which a caller could call any callee who may be present at a given geographic location (geolocation) at a given time. In other words, if a caller were interested in calling anyone who may be present at or around a specified geographical location, during a given period, the caller will be able to call that location only if either a number is permanently associated with that location and the caller calls that number, or the caller calls a specific known callee whose presence at the location might be a known fact to the caller.
The illustrative embodiments recognize that presently there is no available method by which a caller could call any callee who may be present at a location where the location is determined dynamically by the current location of a mobile device. In other words, if a caller were interested in calling anyone who may be present at or around the current location of another device—a reference device, the caller is presently unable to make this call to a destination communication device without some apriori knowledge of the set of callees or the set of destination communication devices present in the same location as the reference device. A reference device can be any device capable of being geolocated using geolocation sensing technology including but not limited to GPS, multi-lateration or multi-angulation of wireless signals, entity identification using cameras or Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or any combination thereof. Geolocation sensing technology with wireless signals can include both indoor and outdoor geolocation technology including Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Bluetooth, Ultra-wide Band (UWB), Infrared (IR), RFID or any other sensor network. Specifically, the reference device can be a mobile device, such as a cell phone, comprising a GPS unit, a cellular network unit, and any other common wireless signal unit.
The illustrative embodiments recognize that such a deficiency in the present telecommunications systems are severely limiting in many circumstances. The illustrative embodiments recognize that under certain circumstances, a caller may want to call any callee who satisfies a location-related criterion. A location-related criterion is a criterion or condition, which may specify a location, or from which a location can be deduced, and which must be satisfied by a potential callee.
For example, a caller's daughter might be equipped with a device whose identifier is known to the caller. The device with the daughter is a reference device, whose identifier or identifying information is associated with the reference device. A non-limiting example of such a reference device is a cellular phone or an RFID tag in a credit card. The daughter might be in an unknown place, and the caller might want to call anyone —even an unknown callee—who may be near the caller's daughter at the current time, i.e., the time of the call. In other words, the caller, using a caller communication device, should be able to call a set of destination communication devices, whose identifying information, e.g., phone numbers, are not known to the caller communication device, but such destination communication devices are within a specified distance of the reference device whose identifying information is known to the caller communication device. For example, the location may have a landline whose number is unknown to the caller, or may not have a phone or a number associated therewith. Furthermore, different callees with different destination communication devices may be present at the location at different times. The callee's presence within the specified distance from the reference device is interpreted as the reference device being in geolocation proximity with the reference device.
A service provider's system can resolve the daughter's location by locating the reference device. The criterion or instruction from the caller communication device provides the identifying information of the reference device and a default or other distance for the geolocation proximity of a destination communication device relative to the reference device. Thus, providing the identifying information of the reference device and optionally the distance for geolocation proximity is a location is an example of a current location-related criterion or instruction according to the illustrative embodiments.
As another example, a caller might want to call anyone—even an unknown callee—who may be at the park now, to ask whether they see a child with a red sweater on the swing there. The park may not have a number associated therewith, and different callees may be present at the park at different times. The callee's presence at a location—the park—is an example of a location-related criterion where the park is a location specified in the criterion.
As another example, a caller might want to call anyone—even an unknown callee—who may be near a store, to ask whether the store has a line of patrons outside. The callee's presence at a location—near the store, e.g., within certain distance of the store—is another example of a location-related criterion where the store may be specified but “near” the store may be an unspecified location in the location-related criterion. The “near the store” location may not have a number associated therewith, or even an address associated therewith. Furthermore, the “near the store” may not be a specific location but an area, such as an area defined by a radius or other geographical fence. Additionally, different callees, with different mobile devices, and with different numbers or identifiers, may be present in the area at different times.
As another example, a caller might want to call anyone—even an unknown callee—if certain other types of location-related conditions or criteria are met by the callee, to exchange some information. For example, the caller might be interested in calling someone who is stationary, i.e., not driving, and ask the callee a landmark that is visible from the callee's location. The callee being stationary at the callee's location is another example of a location-related criterion where the callee's location may or may not be specified in the location-related criterion. As in the other examples above, different callees, with different mobile devices, and with different numbers or identifiers, may be present at the callee's location at different times. As another example, the caller might be interested in calling someone who is in a group of ten people or more, with a known person, such as a well known performer whose present location is available. The callee's presence with a group is another example of a location-related criterion where the location of the group is unspecified in the location-related criterion. Again, different callees, with different mobile devices, and with different numbers or identifiers, may be present with the known person at different times.
As another example, the caller might be interested in calling anyone who is situated so as to be able to reach a location within a given amount of time. The callee's presence at one location—from where another location is reachable—is an example of a location-related criterion, where the other location may or may not be specified, as in the above examples. Again, different callees, with different mobile devices, and with different numbers or identifiers, may be within such a distance from the location at different times.
As another example, the caller might be interested in calling more than one callee who is located in an area or location during a given period. Particularly, the caller may want at least n callees to respond, no more than n callees to respond, n or more callees to respond, or some combination thereof. Furthermore, the caller may want one or more responses within a given period. Not only could different callees, with different mobile devices, and with different numbers or identifiers, be present at the location during the period, but also the group of potential callees may change during the period as callees enter and leave the area.
These examples situations are not intended to be limiting. From this disclosure, those of ordinary skill in the art will be able to conceive many other situations where such calls are desirable and the same are contemplated within the scope of the illustrative embodiments.
The illustrative embodiments recognize that presently available methods of calling are severely limited in establishing a call in these and other similar circumstances. Thus, a solution for calling one or more transient callees or callee-associated mobile devices based on the mobile device's location is needed and will be beneficial.